Family, Football, and...Food!

By D. Kubovy

Watching sports on TV needn’t be a parents-only activity. Share your love of the game with your kids, and rooting for your favorite teams can be fun for the whole family.

Prep the kids for an afternoon of sports by giving them an overview of the game, with an intro to the basics of play. That way, they'll have a better idea of what's going on while they're watching. "I think watching sports on TV is boring," said one mom. "But once my husband took the time to explain the game to me and the kids, I saw what he loved about it, and we were all able to get into it."

Give the kids some things to look for during the game: certain team members, plays, or rituals on the sidelines, to keep their attention focused. The Ascher family made a game out of a recent basketball broadcast: "We each picked a player, and gave ourselves a point everytime he appeared onscreen."

Get your kids into the spirit by donning team colors, and joining you in the kitchen to cook up these delicious pretzel chicken nuggets to set down in front of the couch. They're as fun to make as they are to eat, and there's a lot of kid-friendly preparation involved! So make sure everyone washes their hands, and let's get started...

What You Need:

• 4 fresh boneless, skinless Chicken Breasts
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup fat-free egg product or 2 egg whites
• 1 tablespoon yellow mustard
• 2 cups fat-free mini pretzel twists, finely crushed

• Preheat oven to 400°F.
• Wash hands.
• Spray baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.
• Cut each breast into 6 to 8 bite-size pieces.
• Place flour in large plastic food storage bag.
• In small shallow dish, blend egg product and mustard.
• Place crushed pretzels in separate shallow dish.
• Add chicken nuggets to flour in bag; shake to coat evenly.
• Dip a piece of chicken in egg mixture; coat evenly with pretzels and place on baking sheet.
• Repeat with remaining chicken.
• Bake at 400°F 9 to 11 minutes or until internal juices of chicken run clear. 

A couple of parents reported that they let their kids shake the food storage bag with the flour and chicken inside it. The kids loved it, said one Dad, "but make sure the bag is tightly sealed!" Other kids who tried this recipe had fun helping to crush the pretzels. "We let Ben (age 4) crumble up the pretzels for a while... then did the fine-crushing ourselves," said a parent. One family suggested putting the pretzels in a sealed food-storage bag, and pounding it with a meat tenderizer, to really chop them up without making a mess.

Once the chicken is ready, serve it on a platter with a small bowl of dipping sauce. We recommend honey-mustard or sweet-and-sour sauce for more sophisticated palates, or good old mustard and ketchup for kids with less adventurous tastes.

This recipe is a real crowd-pleaser: "We all loved this recipe," said a New York mom. "The preparation was easy, and it was so good, we made it again the following week when we had guests over."

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